Interactive Governance in the Netherlands: The Case of the Scheldt Estuary

Abstract

In many countries we are witnessing a shift from government to governance, with more emphasis on horizontal steering in governance networks. In the Netherlands, which has always had a consensus culture (Kickert 2004), there is great interest in new forms of interactive decision-making to cope with the complexity of modern policy problems (Edelenbos & Monninkhof 2001). This chapter illustrates the Dutch practice of governance by analysing the decisionmaking process leading up to the Scheldt Estuary Development Plan 2010, a typical policy process taking place in a complex policy network and organized using deliberate network management or meta-governance.